Houston had Reinhold in his arms as he gazed behind him. All he could describe it was…
“Chaos.”
If Holy Fire earlier was described as a starving child barely surviving, Holy Fire now was an obese man consuming more and more. It latched onto everything around it, growing greatly. Countless buildings and objects were set on fire, the worst part was that normal water could not put it out.
It burned everything so thoroughly that not even smoke came out, it was only dust filling the ground. Yio and Higher Deacon Raxor were finally able to divert the enemies’ attacks back at them, although at a massive price.
Yio held the pouch in his hands and felt half of his coins disappear.
“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! 200 Insignias wasted!”
It was completely unbearable for Yio to spend this much. He was saving so much to sacrifice to the God of Trials to be bestowed with more power but now faced with the threat of death, he was forced to. He believed that Higher Deacon Raxor was strong enough to handle whatever would’ve come their way, but he was mistaken.
“Holy Fire! I lost so much because of that!”
Yio’s temper was causing him to act out. He hated Reinhold for creating Holy Fire. He hated Higher Deacon Raxor for threatening him. He hated everyone else for going against his way. He initially thought this was an easy expedition to earn more Insignias, but he was mistaken.
One thing led to another and now he had his back against the wall, forced to lose years of accumulation due to this disaster. A strain started to form between Yio and Higher Deacon Raxor’s relationship.
Yio glared at Higher Deacon Raxor’s back, giving him quite a venomous look.
Higher Deacon was too mentally drained to notice this, “At least we’re safe for now. How many people are left?”
The wall of corpses that once surrounded them was no longer there to suffocate them. Rather, it was all already ash, they could simply walk away freely. They could but they chose not to, although the Holy Fire that was their cage suddenly became their wall for safety, they couldn’t ease up just yet.
There was no path in or out, there was only a raging fire that consumed everything in its path.
A random Gifted inquisitor responded, “500 left…”
Higher Deacon Raxor sighed at the losses, he tried his best to minimize the casualties but it still wasn’t enough. At least they finally had enough time to breathe now.
“Yio, what else can you do with those?”
“Higher Deacon Raxor, you need to understand how expensive blowing it all away is,” Yio showed Higher Deacon Raxor the half-filled bag with rage.
“It’s life and death right now. Holding back will be the end of us.”
On Reinhold’s side, his thoughts ran by. Countless plans and ideas were conjured up as he spouted orders. In the end, he managed to organize everyone. He told everyone their parts for what was to come.
“The fire that I made eats away at both material and laws. It’s eating away at the God’s Domain but we’ll all be ashes before it manages to consume it all. Don’t let it touch you,” before they all split up Reinhold gave one last warning.
Reinhold, Houston, and Hannah were going toward the first explosion’s site. Meanwhile, everyone else was going toward the second explosion’s area. Mercenaries split up as they all evacuated as much as they could, fortunately, everyone was already grouped resulting in ease of evacuation.
Heinster’s group was filled with people who had red eyes and red hair. They were completely mortal without any way to fight back against the inquisitors. As much as everyone in the squad was weak, they had some slight ability in coordination. This aspect lets them coordinate with the rest of the mercenaries in evacuation.
Heinster tried to form an army to fight against the inquisitors but sadly they were too weak to be of use. Reinhold knew what Heinster was trying to do but just let him be, he tried to limit the involvement of everyone he personally knew.
At this point, recalling the terror that came from the damnable mansion, he took into account that his enemies could’ve had a way to put out his move but never expected that they could use that abominable terror to do so.
Doubts and hesitation were starting to set in. His final trump card was his most brutal one, something that would haunt him until the end of days.
“Houston, we might need to bail out,” Reinhold finally said what was on his mind.
“Rei you promised me,” Houston’s casual smile turned into a solemn frown. He had been following Reinhold since he wanted to see the survival of everyone here, at least most of them.
Reinhold already had an out ever since the beginning but that would leave everyone else to deal with the inquisitors. Without Reinhold’s book, their chances of fighting back were slim.
“I’m just saying that it’s a possibility now. If they dispelled the fire with something else other than that ‘abomination’ I wouldn’t have had begun to think of this.”
Recalling the odd instinctual feeling of death Houston asked, “What was that?”
“I don’t know what it is. All I know is that you offer up some coins in exchange for a favor. I don’t know what its limits are but it’s definitely higher than everyone on our side combined. Even the Fanged Lioness at her peak would probably die in an instant if it made a move.”
Houston’s eyes narrowed, his thoughts racing, “What can we do about it?”
“Nothing. We’re too weak.”
They both carried on their paths based on Reinhold’s earlier plan.
Holy Fire consumes until there’s nothing left. The Holy Fire Reinhold created was only the weakest version of it, only relying on the laws held within his book to consume everything in its path. To put it out there are two ways, extinguish it, law per law, or to remove its fuel.
Holy Fire was raging on, continuing outward with vigor. Ash started to settle down on the streets and rooftops, covering all of them in a thin sheet of darkness.
They couldn’t extinguish it using laws, ignoring that the God’s Domain is suppressing their ability to use their own laws, Holy Fire was now too out of control to viably use laws against it. The only option now was to prevent it from eating more.
The Fanged Lioness relaxed her body, letting it fill up with energy. Her laws might have been suppressed but her physical strength wasn’t. Her frail-looking body moved in a blink of an eye towards a certain area and created a trench.
Other mercenaries who also had enough strength to carve out cement and rock also helped. They tore down the buildings, carved out the ground, and threw all of the debris away from the fire’s direction. Civilians ran away on the other side of the trench while the Gifted were demolishing everything in their path. Everyone was currently working as fast as they could.
Heinster was in this group, but oddly enough Chris, Johnny, and Miss Howards weren’t. Reinhold already took precautions in case this were ever to happen. Where they were hiding, only Reinhold and Houston knew.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
The Holy Fire’s spread started to increase more and more, previously unaffected buildings were catching on fire, and nothing but ash was left.
Reinhold and Houston finally managed to get to the other side of where everyone else was. They didn’t even bother following what the other side was doing. They had something more important to do, another trump card waiting for them here.
“Now it’s time for us to catch them off guard,” Reinhold sat down, this was their next course of action.
They were now waiting for the Holy Fire to consume the entire city and raze it down to the ground. The already ruined buildings in the area around the second hole in the wall were enough to deprive the Holy Fire from consuming more.
There was nothing to do but wait.
After a few hours of waiting, Houston started up some casual conversation. The burning smell of wood and flesh still lingered in the air.
“How far have you progressed?” Houston tried to catch up on Reinhold’s progress.
“Progressed where?”
“Unity.”
“That… I haven’t. I just copied what I saw.”
“You haven’t… odd…” Houston rested his head on his arms and looked up at the skies.
He continued, “Then you should get your Eminence checked out.”
“I’d love to but are you going to pay for it?”
“I thought you were rich enough.”
“Everything’s gone. I’m broke right now. Buying out that much gunpowder wasn’t cheap.” Reinhold got a little annoyed at the thought of losing everything he saved up for in a mere few days.
“…besides there wasn’t a point in doing it,” Reinhold muttered under his breath.
“Since you’re broke, I know a rich girl in another city. You want me to introduce you?”
Houston seemed more knowledgeable than he thought.
“What’s in it for you?”
“My friend needs someone to continue her research. You’d definitely be to her liking.”
“You didn’t answer me.”
“She’s really loaded, young, beautiful, and definitely talented. Her personality might be a little eccentric, but she treats her people with kindness,” Houston continued to list her traits.
“Houston, what are you trying to do here?”
“Did I forget to mention that she’s already achieved quite a high mastery on the Path of Unity?”
“I’m not going to blindly listen to you. What’s the catch?”
“Aren’t you curious in the slightest?” Houston smiled slightly, showing his pearly white teeth.
“We’re in a life-and-death situation right now. Why are you trying to play matchmaker?” Reinhold started Houston straight in the eyes,
“Because we are, you aren’t. I need you here to save everyone. I can take away your book right now, but I know you have something else in store if I do. You are the best chance we have. Please, save them.”
With his father's book, Reinhold could already nullify the God's Domain using the symbols he learned, deriving power from the book into something more practical. He mimicked the Scroll of Protection for this specific application.
Reinhold understood that Houston was trying to plead with him. Faced with extremely severe odds, their strength wasn’t enough to deal with what was about to come. Reinhold was the only hope they had if they wanted to save the civilians.
It wasn’t a matter of survival anymore, it was a matter of saving lives. Whether he should be selfish or selfless.
“I don’t want to meet her, I want something else.”
Houston’s eyes glinted with joy, this meant that what Reinhold was hiding was definitely enough to resolve the current problem.
“Name it, I’ll do what I can.”
“There’s thing weird thing that I noticed when I was researching Unity. I need you to help me figure out my theory.”
“No problem! I can still introduce you to her, I’ll have her reimburse you for everything spent here!”
“I spent 100,000 noux. Can she give me that much?” Reinhold lied, he wanted to see just how much wealth Houston had.
“Not an issue at all. They can even give you 1,000,000 noux if you decide to join their-.”
“I just want you to help me figure this out and the money. Everything else is irrelevant.”
“You’ll find out eventually, but the True Order will start looking out for you. You did set off their signal after all. If you don’t want to deal with them it’ll be beneficial to join her. I’ve said my piece, let’s get started.”
Reinhold felt extremely weird that Houston was trying so hard to convince him to join her. Regardless, there were more pressing matters at hand.
With the safety of his escape ready, he could be a bit more aggressive. After he studied the scrolls he bought, he managed to figure out some basic forms that had set commands in place. He studied the Scroll of Protection and found that it had similarities with the Scroll of Binding, he took note of these similarities and cross-referenced them with other scrolls.
In the end, he started his path towards Unity, the use of these symbols was the core form of control. These symbols were called Eminence, a way to control reality using pre-set formations.
Reinhold knew that the world was big, with countless possibilities and paths toward power. There were four major paths: Quantum, Unity, Ascendance, and Domain.
Each of the four paths was categorized into two main combinations. Quantum and Ascendance lean towards the path of Godhood while Unity and Domain focus on treading on a new path based on laws.
Each path is based on its own concepts and rules, differing from each other by their purposes and ability. The flexibility of how one can advance is only limited by one’s own imagination.
Reinhold knew that these paths existed but didn’t understand exactly how deep each path went. He only knew the general information about them. He was still exploring Unity as a beginner.
He knew that Eminence was the term of these symbols when placed upon a person. A person acted as the symbol, similar to how the symbol on the Scroll of Fire used the laws tucked away within the paper to conjure up fire. The person with their Eminence gathers the laws that are within them and around them to be manipulated by their will.
As confusing as it sounded, everyone knew what to call this, talent. Everyone had Eminence within themselves, everyone had the inborn ability to control the laws around them, the only problem was if they never awakened it. Certain Eminence only reacts to certain situations/conditions so there were people who specifically researched Eminence until it became a true path of power.
Countless people searched for what these symbols meant, what they could do, and what its limits were. Eventually, one madman tried to manipulate his victim’s Eminence and the results shocked the entire world. His Eminence changed, everyone knew what this meant, and talent wasn’t a limiting factor anymore.
This discovery led the entire world into a frenzy, showing the fourth main path, Unity. This event was only a mere 600 years ago, how much more it could evolve, no one knew. Could it lead one to ascension just like Quantum and Ascendance, or will it alongside Domain, create a new future for mankind, only time will tell.
Currently, research on Eminence is extremely valuable. It was to the point where every casual treader on this path was a valuable commodity to the world. The precision and detail even a basic Eminence had were beyond any mortal capability. Yet somehow, Reinhold was able to completely mimic this symbol and apply it to something else.
There were so many plausible reasons why this could occur, but the most likely scenario was that Reinhold was a genius on the Path of Unity.
“I’ve researched Eminence for a while, it seemed to be a trait, rather than an action.”
“Oh really? Yeah, I’ve heard about this from her. What about it?”
“I’ve seen similarities in defense traits and similarities in offensive traits. I was wondering what would happen if I combined everything all at once.”
“I don’t get it, so what do you want me to do?”
“Try and defend against what I’m about to do. I’ll only use the same amount of power as a normal scroll.”
Reinhold already activated the nullifying domain by using his book as Houston could use his Law of Madness to its fullest.
Reinhold took out his already-made parchment and no longer needed to activate it using an incantation, he only needed to use his will.
He already tested this out a while ago but since there weren’t any conclusive results he could only ask Houston.
An oddly shaped spearhead was floating from the conjured Eminence. It flew straight forward toward Houston’s heart. Normally he would dodge this but to test it out for Reinhold he waved his hand, and black murky mist collided with the spearhead. It was immediately disarmed, and the spearhead broke into motes of light.
“As expected, it’s extremely weak once it comes into contact with active laws. Without laws, it’s extremely formidable,” Reinhold mentally took note of the results. He managed to find out that although it works, there’s this odd aspect of stability that he needed to take note of. It was as if what he made was like a flimsy kite, although it could handle weak winds, once it gets tangled by a tiny bit it’ll come crumbling down.
“I’ll need to test out more theories. We still have a few more hours before the whole city’s ash,” Reinhold casually started writing out another symbol on another empty piece of paper.
Houston casually nodded, there wasn’t anything they could do but wait for the Holy Fire to extinguish itself.
Hannah was sitting by their side, completely silent. Her thoughts were wandering on what she should do. She was gazing at the smoke rise from the ongoing forest fire.
Meanwhile, Yio and Higher Deacon Raxor managed to get a few hours of rest in the meanwhile, although it wasn’t enough, it helped them calm down from the high-intensity action a while ago.
Yio’s temper mellowed a bit, he knew he was being unreasonable but he couldn’t help it, the stress and exhaustion accumulated and made him act out. He was still angry but instead of a fiery flame, it was a simmering heat.
Higher Deacon Raxor started planning out what they should do next. It was extremely problematic if Reinhold still had another trump card like the Holy Fire. Although they could possibly blow it all away once more, it was extremely expensive on Yio’s end. In fact, he might not even have enough to pay the price for that ‘terror’ to blow it all away once more.
“Yio, can’t you make ‘it’ kill that red-eyed man?”
“Of course, it can,” Yio absentmindedly said.
“It can?! Then why didn’t you do so earlier?”
“Then pay up, actively killing someone by using ‘it’ is far too expensive.”
“How expensive?”
“A mortal costs 500 Insignias to kill, a Path Seeker costs at the very least 5000 Insignias, the more laws they comprehended, the more expensive they are.”
“What’s wrong with the costs?! Holy Fire, that can burn laws, only cost 200 Insignias to blow away! This is something every Path Seeker is afraid of! Why is it so absurdly expensive to kill a mortal?!”
“The God of Trials gives us the trial and the tools to complete it. To ask for instantaneous results goes against our creed.”